Death Brings To Light
by Morbid Mother
Summary: He was seated behind his desk, one hand poised over his throat in a vain attempt to keep the blood from running out over his collar and onto his coat front.
1. Chapter 1

Death Brings To Light

**Death Brings To Light**

**By MM**

There wasn't much of a reason why he'd gone looking for Akira. Akira was Yukisato's son and therefore would lead to Yukisato at one point in time or another. Maybe he had just wanted to see the little boy whom he'd brought under his wing and taught basketball. He just really wanted to see someone who wasn't consciously aware of all the things that had happened. He couldn't even really remember, but he knew one thing.

Everyone tip toed around him. Tatsuki, Yuuto, Mio…as if he was extra fragile, and extra sharp. It was like they were tensing themselves for something to break when it wasn't meant to. And it wasn't meant to. Not until he found out Akira had moved back in town. It was an almost urgency to see Akira, like the little boy had all his answers to the time lapse the week he was supposed to be in New York.

Around one last corner, towards the coral blue house set back from the street. There was Akira, in front of the house where he and his father had last lived. He was sitting at the top uppermost step, his head between his knees and a basketball at his feet. He wasn't moving at all.

"Akira?" Kotarou approached the boy cautiously. Maybe he was wrong. This wasn't the little boy he'd remembered. This kid looked to be about as old as him, and certainly as tall. But, as Kotarou stepped closer, the kid lifted his head and he could see that, indeed, it was Akira…with tears racing down his cheeks and slime beneath his nose.

"Akira! Why are you crying?" Kotarou knelt down. The boy was somehow not there. Like his soul had jumped into some sort of time continuum. His eyes were nothing more than glass pools of misery. "What's wrong?" Akira shook his head vigorously. "Where's your father?" This time Akira screwed up his face and let a low keening escape his throat. Whatever was wrong he wasn't going to say.

There was only one thing for him to do. Kotarou stepped past Akira, and ascended to the veranda. The door was already ajar, and by the empty feeling, it was as if the resident had recently vacated it. Kotarou knew what he was going to find before he stepped through the door. Maybe he should call the police…or maybe not. Maybe it was just a dead animal and Akira had been horrified by it although even that excuse sounded weak. Still, Kotarou circumnavigated the first floor, and then moved towards the stairs.

The second floor was much like the first. There was no one else, living or dead, located on the second. But, Kotarou was sure to ask Akira about the house in general. Every room seemed to be furnished in an impersonal way. Kotarou was sure not to miss a single detail or leave a single door unopened.

Bounding down the stairs with great news, Kotarou noticed an entryway he had overlooked.

It was a small thing, nestled behind the door to the out side like it was hiding from prying entrees. Through the door, Kotarou could see Mr. Yukisato petrified in his red leather chair. He was seated behind his desk, one hand poised over his throat in a vain attempt to keep the blood from running out over his collar and onto his coat front. Mr. Yukisato's jugular had been sliced clean through the vein.

"His watch…"

Kotarou's heart lodged in his throat. For a moment, he couldn't speak. What was there to say? He could see the shiny timepiece peeking from under Mr. Yukisato's sleeve. He stiffly crossed the threshold to stand next to Mr. Yukisato.

Mr. Yukisato's eyes held a calm, controlled expression, even in death. They stared through Kotarou and spoke phantom words that said, even in death, everything became a part of his plan. When Kotarou finally reached the corpse he reached to unstrap the gaudy timepiece; uncharacteristically bejeweled for a man like Yukisato. It was when he'd lifted it from Yukisato's wrist that the world went vertigo. The sensations started at his eyes, and proceeded to twist his stomach into a nauseas fury knot. his eyes felt as if they were being sucked into his brain. The last thing he saw down the dark tunnel was Akira's face, twisted in agony.

Rapid footsteps down the hall, and the impending storm of two boys who yet aren't allowed to see their friend.

"No one can see the patient!"

Hustlers and aides step in the way. They might be clouds of mist hanging low to the ground. Only obstacles; no-faces is what Tatsuki sees. Yuuto trails behind, trying to consol each of the victims of Tatsuki's Wrecking Run.

Then, the trail stops. Because Tatsuki has stopped. He standing there, facing Kotarou's mother. But she doesn't feel tense. More like resigned to the fact that force will overtake the weak, yet, Tatsuki doesn't move. She has something to say first. "When you go in there don't talk in loud voices. Don't try cry. Just…just. You know; be strong for him, 'cus that's what he needs from us."

It's like access granted to a VIP room, only it was in the hospital's ICU. Although Tatsuki was ahead of him, Yuuto could see clean over Tatsuki's shoulder, and boy was it a sight. It wasn't like anything cocked up to look like this. Not a heart attack, a stroke, not an explosion or even a nuclear bomb for that matter. It was disgusting and pitiful to look at the once beautiful boy. His eye lids were drawn all the way back and his eyes were pushed forward to bulging. His face was a mess of raw skin that was in the process of peeling. The rest of Kotarou's body was hidden under the blanket, but bulges here and there gave away the fact that his body was no better than his face.

"What _happened?"_ Yuuto gasped. Kotarou's grotesque and oversized lips flexed and open to form what supposed to be words. Yuuto and Tatsuki made a beeline for the bed. Tatsuki won first place. He stationed his ear a hair's breath away from Kotarou's lips, listening intently to every word his cousin had to say. When he turned towards Yuuto, his face was set. He left the room like that.

Time Lapse

"_What a shame."_

"_**Kotarou!"**_

"_Don't touch him."_

"_Why not?!"_

_There's footsteps and rustling, then the painful sensation of being born upwards._

"_Wh-what are you doing?"_

"_Wait! Where are you taking them?!"_

"_You better leave before someone sees you here."_

_"What happened to them?! Hey! __**Say something!"**_

"_Urushiyama. Forget the things you saw here today."_

Time Cap

A sigh exhales from the bottom of his toes. Travelling higher and higher through his knees, up his thighs, past his hips…until it is finally expelled through the tiny holes of his nose. He recognizes the course sheets before he even opens his eyes. The sterile smell of the hospital tickles his senses. For the first of many times to come, Kotarou wonders why the event at Mr. Yukisato's wasn't the first time anything weird happened to him. Kotarou blinked open a sore eye to descover a nurse staring down at him with great attention.

"Ms. Nurse."

"Poor, baby...!" the nurse from a year ago begins to gush nonsense about him looking horrid and the doctor not knowing what to do until his mother came and said it was ok to take him to surgery to fix him and how it was so successful the hospital threw a party for the doctor and the doctor got so drunk he jumped on the table and started to dance to do a striptease… At this point, Kotarou tuned out her banter, not recognizing anything useful.

"…after all, your cousin and his lackey stalked out of here like bad boys on a mission."

"Tatsuki?" Kotarou raised himself up onto his elbow, "my cousin was here?"


	2. Chapter 2

A cool sensation on his forehead and small cooing sounds

A cool sensation on his forehead and small cooing sounds.

Kotarou opened his eyes to find Ms. Nurse leaning over him. She had a damp cloth in her hand and was rubbing it over the fevered skin of his face.

"You mustn't get excited, sweetie," she said in a soft tone, "you can't imagine what you've been through."

"Where's my cousin?" he croaked. Ms. Nurse's face fell. "Is he here?"

"Sweetie," Ms. Nurse glanced at everything but his face, "no one's seen your cousin since he stormed out of here a day ago."

Kotarou tried to raise his body, but it wasn't obeying him. He knew he wasn't paralyzed. He could feel the muscles working, straining, _screaming_ to raise his body, but all he could do was strain them and then relax them in defeat. His body was being a bastard is what his cousin would say.

"What's wrong with me?!" Kotarou demanded of the nurse, "why won't my body work?!"

Ms. Nurse was speechless. She didn't know how much she should tell him, if she should tell him anything at all.

"The doctor will arrive in the morning. He'll be able to explain everything to you." She quickly spun on her heel and left the room. She didn't want to tell the young man that life as he knew it was about to make a turn for the worst.

Kotarou was well aware the nurse lady wasn't telling him something, saving it for the doctor in the morning. _How unprofessional, yet the woman must have her reasons._ Still, that thought didn't help with putting him to sleep.

Kotarou watched the analogue clock, on the wall, tick away the seconds. He wondered, yet again, where his cousin could possibly be. Where would he go? This had happened before, but usually it was for something that was worse than passing out. That's all what happened to him could be described as: passing out. Then why would his cousin disappear without letting anyone know? Kotarou had to find him. He glanced again at the clock. 3:09 it said. The nurse had just left, so maybe she wouldn't check on him for another fifteen minutes or so. Kotarou tried to push his elbow under his body. It slid along slowly, until the right side of his body was at a slight slant. Now, for his left elbow.

Time Lapse

Yuuto was having an asthma attack. He swore up and down on everything he loved. His lungs were about to collapse. If he hadn't been staring at Tatsuki from the side, he would have thought the kid was walking dead. His chest hardly moved. Only a slight film of sweat covered his face.

"I'm sorry…" wheeze, "that I…" wheeze, "have to..." wheeze, "breathe."

"Next time you decide to die," Tatsuki replied, "stay home."

Yuuto straightened instantly and glared at Tatsuki's receding back. _Same to you, jerkwad._

They were in an unfamiliar part of town. The no good part of town as far as Yuuto was concerned. It wasn't a place kids go to hang out everyday. There have been grown men who had ventured here and never returned. Really.

To be more specific, it was an old industrial part of the city. But fifty years ago the last factory fired the rest of its workers and closed doors. The buildings were then seized and transformed into housing projects for low income workers. Some people still live in this part of town, but even families on welfare would rather starve for a half decent home than live on 'this side of town'.

"Tatsuki, what are we doing here?" Tatsuki didn't answer him and Yuuto really wasn't expecting him to. Instead, Tatsuki was glaring at the buildings on each side of them. The were high rise factory buildings. Glass panes were either missing, or boarded up. Doors were steel plate, but in some places, that wasn't even enough. Every other sort of person had been through here. If you got attacked or injured on this side of town, forget the police. The law didn't stretch this far.

"Uh…Tatsuki. What are we looking for?"

Yuuto soon got his answer. One moment Tatsuki was stalking down the street, the next, he was a squirrel down a dark alley. Yuuto had to put on an extra burst of speed just to keep up with him. Good thing, because no one in their right mind would be running down an alley that looked and smelled like that.

"Tatsuki!" Yuuto yelled, and then bowled straight into him.

Time Lapse


	3. Chapter 3

Nothing was ever like the movies

Nothing was ever like the movies. See, in movies you're guaranteed nine times out of ten someone is going to live. Nine times out of ten, you're like, "that's it?" Nine times out of ten you won't suck ass so hard.

Ten times out of ten, _life_ throws you in the dark and then socks a good one up your alley, and then everyone expects you to walk away scathe free. Yeah right. Why couldn't it ever be like the movies?

"You looking for Yukisato's boy, aren't you?" standing in front of them was none other than the shady brain surgeon that got brain surgery when he made a bad comment about Kotarou to Tatsuki's face. Yup, the one and only and he didn't look so hot anymore. He didn't look hot at _all_. His face was puckered and pockmarked from the explosion. His hands were twisted and discolored from scar tissue. His clawed hand was wrapped around the softly arched handle of a cane to keep his bent body from keeling over. He wore a dark and dusty dress suite that had surely seen better days. This guy was a mess and what more? He should have been dead.

"What's wrong?" the doctor laughed, "seen a ghost?"

Oh well, I don't know. How about YEAH!!

"It's sad really. Look at me. I should be dead. After you were finished with me, and my tropical fish that cost a fortune, you went after Yukisato...Didn't turn out so good though, did it?"

I glanced at Tatsuki's curled fists. I willed him with all my power to wait, just wait for a moment.

"You guys played right into our hands. All three of you. What did it matter if I lost my life. I'd gladly sacrifice it again if I had to."

Tatsuki visibly relaxed, but I didn't. I was trying to will him again: _do it, do it, do it._ I chanted in my head.

But, Mr. Dark Eyed Bright Guy thought man was wrong and that it was time someone broke his bubble. "You're wrong," Tatsuki said.

Or maybe he wasn't.

The man's face brightened and lifted into an ugly grimace that must have been a smile. "I'm wrong?" he asked mockingly, "why do you think _I'm_ wrong?"

"Kotarou no longer has his power," Tatsuki replied, "I do. Your plan backfired. Yukisato thought that after I collapsed Kotarou would take back the power that had leaked into to me. But, he didn't. he gave what was left of his power to me like the last time…See, your downfall was that you didn't know what kind of person my cousin is and…"

My stomach jumped into my throat, and I _know_ Tatsuki was feeling the same way. The bitch hole

was laughing. _Laughing._ Harsh wheezing sounds were coming out of his throat and his face was screwed up worse than before. He was laughing hard and his eyes held nothing but pure evil humor. He was laughing at us. At our stupidity to think we had actually bested an underground organization of super psychics. These Super Psychics that murdered 'lesser vessels' for power and glory and the installment of others. It was like the X-Men up against The Brotherhood.

"Of course!" the doctor crowed, tears in his eyes, "of course. _That_ plan backfired. But, Yukisato-sama had another plan. No, it wouldn't be as pleasant as the first one he thought up, but this plan was so much more fool proof. In fact, it was _completely_ fool proof! So long as a vessel large enough to hold that amount of power came in contact with the body before anything else did, then he'd be able to take the overload! And even if a vessel not big enough touched the body first, all the vessel had to do was touch _both_ bodies! HAHA!! Don't ask me how Yukisato-sama figured it out, but he did. The only doubt we had was whether Kota-chan--,"

Tatsuki cut the doctor off before he could say any more. Heat flared in his eyes and the doctor was airborne before anyone could think. His head hit the concrete with a sickening crack, and if he wasn't dead already, the disks in his spine burst through his torso like bullets of guts.

I threw up all over my shoes.

Time Lapse


End file.
